What next for Junior Witter? by Jordan Green Mar 20th 2008

At this moment in time all the talk about WBC champion Junior “the Hitter” Witter should have been about an upcoming fight against Demetrius Hopkins that was scheduled for this Saturday.  But it isn't. Unfortunately for Witter, Demetrius Hopkins (the nephew of Bernard) pulled the plug on the fight after a row with Golden Boy, the show's promoters, which must have bitterly disappointed Witter as the fight was scheduled to air on HBO, giving him some much needed exposure in America, so instead all the talk now is about his next potential opponent. However, a positive may now come out of a negative as there are murmurings that Witter's camp are in talks with the WBO light-welterweight champion Ricardo Torres (28) about a possible unification match in June. Should this come off and should Witter win then that would put him in a fantastic position to demand the high profile matches he craves in the near future. Of course the fight he really craves is against the Ricky “The Hitman” Hatton and if Witter was to add the WBO belt to his WBC belt, it would be hard to see how Ricky Hatton could continue to avoid him.  It is a fight most hardened Hatton fans want to see too so they will be hoping Junior comes through should the fight Torres be signed as it will enhance the prospect of the eagerly anticipated 'Battle of Britain'. If this fight does not come off unfortunately it may leave Witter in a bit of limbo regarding his next opponent which in turn could make it a tad more difficult to attract the big fights he craves. One potential opponent mooted is Gavin Rees the WBA champion, providing he comes through his title defence against Andreas Kotelnik (an opponent Witter beat back in 2005) on Saturday night. There could however, be quite a big stumbling block for this unification fight and that is perhaps that it would not get much exposure stateside as other fights. So another potential opponent could be the IBF champion Paulie “The Magic Man” Malignaggi but that looks dead in the water for the time being, as it looks like that he will defend his IBF title against Lovemore Ndou on the undercard of Ricky Hatton's homecoming in May, with a view to a Hatton v Malignaggi in the Autumn in New York if both fighters are successful. So that pretty much leaves Hatton out until next year so the only other realistic option to gain some exposure stateside is the unbeaten American Timothy Bradley who became the WBC mandatory challenger when Jose Luis Castillo failed to make the weight for their fight. I personally believe that the best route for Witter to take if possible would be to fight the unbeaten American Timothy Bradley in the summer and if successful have the unification match with Ricardo Torres in the Autumn/back end of the year. If he is successful in that fight too, then he should hunt down the winner of the expected match up between Hatton and Malignaggi as surely he can't be avoided then.

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